“That’s alright, I’m tired anyway. I think I’m going to call it anight.”
“God, I feel terrible,” Katie exclaimed, her brows drawn together in regret. “You barely ever get out for a night on the town, and here I am leaving beforenine.”
“It’s not like you’re intentionally ditching me. Your daughter’s sick,” I said, standing. I gave her a reassuringsmile.
She hugged me tightly before releasing me. “Keep an eye on my girl, Mick!” she instructed the oldbartender.
“Will do,” Mick nodded, drying out a beer glass behind the bar. Katie squeezed my hand again beforeleaving.
I wasn’t quite ready to go home yet. I still hated going home to an empty house. It was too quiet, and I found the silence suffocating. Aiden wouldn’t be home until tomorrow, and I’d officially run out of prospects to keep meentertained.
“Plenty of patrons here that wouldn’t mind keeping you company,” Mick said with a wink as he paused by the table with a tray full of empty glasses. He grabbed Katie’s glass, his translucent eyes sparkling with mirth. I tried not to laugh as I looked around at the near-empty bar. The majority of customers were baby boomers, and a lot of them were fathers of oldclassmates.
“That’s alright, I’m gonna play a quick game of pool and call it a night,” I told him, noticing one of the pool tables had freed up. He nodded and made his way into thekitchen.
Reaching the pool table, I started to set up. I stroked the cue before driving it toward the ball with a steady hand. The tip hit it off the side, as I intended, and it ricocheted off the side of the pool table before it took another one of my balls right into the middlepocket.
My dad had taught me how to play—it was one of the only things he’d taught me. He thought it would be funny to hustle people using his eight year old daughter. He earned a lot of his drinking money that way, for a while. Until I learned to make myselfscarce.
After sinking the eight ball, I set the game up again. I lined up my shot, but before I could take it, the door swung open and Travis walked in. He paused, his eyes scanning the patrons until they landed on me. A dimpled smile broke out on his face, and he strode toward mepurposely.
“Want some company?” he asked, grabbing a freecue.
For a moment, all I could do was stare at him and wonder if I’d conjured him up by wishful thinking. Shaking my head, I fought a smile. It was ridiculous howlighthe made me feel, simply by showingup.
“What are you doing here?” Iasked.
“I called Brock to see if he wanted to meet for some brews, but he’s camping with Aiden, Tessa, andBraden.”
“Really?” I feigned shock, my lips twitching slightly at the giddy lightness in my chest. “So that’s where theywent.”
“Funny girl,” Travis said, his lips curling up in half a smile. His jawline was scruffy, and I wanted to reach out and touch it—to know what it felt like when it brushed against my inner thighs. The last time we’d seen each other, he’d been cleanshaven.
My teeth sank into my bottom lip in an attempt to snap out of the carnal thoughts. His eyes were fixated on them, and he licked his own lips in response, as if he could read my mind and the dirty thoughts itcontained.
“Sure, you take the first shot,” I told him, stepping away from thetable.
He sunk two stipes and with the second, one of mine. Then it was my turn. I grabbed my cue and lined up my shot. I sunk the rest of the solids, then went for the eightball.
“Are you hustling me?” he asked lowly, his eyes twinkling mischievously from across the pool table. He had no idea that I spent a lot of my childhood hustling people over a game ofpool.
“I can’t help it if I’m better than you,” I shrugged, setting up for the next game. We played again, but he was more focused on watching me than actually playing. The more he watched me, the more mistakes Imade.
Casting a nervous glance over my shoulder, I relaxed when I realized nobody was paying any attention to us. The other patrons didn’t care what the younger ones were up to, so long as they still had their dart board and their spots at the bar in front of theTV.
“Let’s go somewhere,” Travissaid.
I brought my eyes back to him, arching a brow. “Where?”
“Anywhere you want. We could drive down to the lake and skinny dip or get a hotel room and spend the night getting reacquainted with each other’sbodies.”
“Both of those suggestions end up with me naked,” I pointed out, fighting back asmile.
“Which is why I’m fond of them both,” Travis said, leaning against his cue and sending another dimpled smile my way. “What do yousay?”
I knew I should say no, especially given the fact that I was hell-bent on calling off ourarrangement.
But tonight? I wanted hiscompany.
